So I went to my first Zazen session yesterday

and I think I'll be going back.

I was a bit thrown by the ritual and the chanting. The Sangha leader I met with for an orientation kinda got me worried about the required rituals, basically when and in what direction to bow, but my concern was over blown in my own mind he was actually very friendly and accepting and allowed for plenty of flexibility. For example he noticed my unease when he demonstrated how they prostrate to the Buddha figure on the alter at one point. He noted that it took him a while to be comfortable with that too and that it in no way is meant as subjugation of yourself to the statue or the person/being/figure of Buddha and was more about acknowledging what is greater in yourself and everything in the universe. And that I need not do this, and that a simple bow would be fine.

The session started with chanting and that really threw me. I had the liturgy book in my hands and was looking at the words they were chanting which were written (in the first chant at least) in english but what was coming out of the mouths of the others sounded like a foreign language. It took me a couple of readings to catch onto the rhythm of that.

The actual mediation was very good and I was fortunate that they had one of the guiding teachers there yesterday and I went in to speak with her. She was very reassuring and I talked about my discomfort with the prostration to the statue and that I was atheist and she smiled, expanded on the Sangha's leader explanation of what it meant and that the Zen Buddhist practice was atheistic.

We talked more and I think the mediation and the people will be good additions to my life in very practical ways.

I know this might be a bit off topic for this group but I asked about atheist Buddhist here earlier and I felt more comfortable and interested in sharing with you all here rather than in the R/T forum.

It can seem wierd at first but that will pass.

I think you will really like the chants.The vibrations from the sounds have very interesting effects on the body.

whether it's sitting zazen or going off for a jhana session or whatever. The practice is basically the same across all the sects, with the exception of the Nichiren Shoshu people.

A lot of people find that the ritual and chanting center them and prepare them for a meditative state. Other people don't need them and go off on their own. Both are valid as long as they lead to the practice.

Buddha was an ordinary human being who was born and who eventually died. Honoring a statue (and note how happy Buddha always looks) only honors the inner journey he took and the signposts he put up for the rest of us.